Toyota all-electric vehicle in 2012

Year 2012 willl see Japanese car major make a spalsh in the electric car space with its new electric vehicle.

The ongoing Detroit Auto Show will witness the Japanese auto maker will showcase the Toyota FT-EV concept vehicle, which will be made on the same platform as Toyota’s new four-seater iQ, termed as a small, fuel-efficient car designed for city driving . This model was launched in Japan last year.

With the new plans being made public, Toyota has joined the bandwagon of car makers who have lined up electric cars in the short term. The latest one in the race, apart from Toyota is Chrysler, which has said that it would start producing an electric car in 2010. This incidentally will be one among the four that it plans to roll out in to the car market by year 2013. Toyota has been a prime player in the alternative vehicle market with its best-selling Prius gas-electric hybrid. However, the car maker had been on a slow track with regard to electric vehicles, as compared with compatriot Nissan Motor Co. Nissan in fact has lined up its foray in to the electric car mart by 2010.

With the Toyota FT-EV concept on show, the road is now clear for Toyota to expand its range of vehicles with smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles and electric vehicles. The company says it still believes that the gas-electric hybrids will be at the centrestage of Toyota’s long-term powertrain technology. It had only last year said it had plans to sell one million gas-electric hybrids a year during the early 2010s. Significantly, this has been Toyota’s strategy for the long-term strategy of offering hybrid versions of all of its vehicles by 2020.

Meanwhile, the company has also said that it will roll out two new hybrids at the Detroit Auto Show. This will include the third-generation Prius and the Lexus HS250h. By the early 2010s, Toyota says it will also launch as many as 10 new hybrid models in various global markets, said a report.